Deck 20: Telephony

Question 1

The most important person in the early growth of telephony was:

A) Alexander Graham Bell
B) Theodore Vail
C) Thomas Edison
D) Auguste Lumiére

Answer 1

Theodore Vail

Question 2

Which of the following is not a type of telephone service?

A) ISDN
B) MCI
C) POTS
D) VoIP

Answer 2

MCI

Question 3

Which of the following was not an enabling factor for mobile telephone service?

A) Dividing a service area into cells so that frequencies could be used by many people at the same time.
B) App stores that provided a wide range of services for mobile phone users.
C) Digital switching technology to move calls from tower to tower.
D) Microelectronics to allow a transceiver to fit into a small box.

Answer 3

App stores that provided a wide range of services for mobile phone users.

Question 4

Which of the following is NOT a major areas of growth in the telephone industry?

A) Wearables, such as smart watches, that extend the reach of a telephone
B) M-commerce, which is largely conducted vis telephone
C) New apps, which give new ways to use a smartphone
D) Telephone directories, listing all residents in an area

Question 5

What is the number one mobile telephone market in the world in number of subscribers?

A) China
B) Germany
C) India
D) United States

Question 6

Which of the following is true?

A) There are more mobile phones in the U.S. than people.
B) Half of all former landline customers have "cut the cord."
C) Smartphones are used by more than 75% of Americans.
D) The average cellular telephone bill is less than half what it was in 1970.

Question 7

The biggest threat to the future of telephony in the U.S. is:

A) International regulations that would pre-empt U.S. regulations.
B) Scarcity of bandwidth needed for mobile telephone and data services.
C) Ecological catastrophe from toxic waste resulting from telephone manufacturing.
D) The AT&T monopoly.

Question 8

Telephone regulation in the U.S. is primarily implemented by:

A) Congress
B) The FCC
C) The Supreme Court
D) The Department of Defense

Question 9

An increasing number of Americans are abandoning landline phones in favor of mobile phones. Discuss how this change may affect families and society in general.

Question 10

Today's AT&T is a very different company from the one that Theodore Vail grew a century ago. What were the primary motivators for the changes?

Question 11

Most people replace their telephones every year or two. What is the ecological impact of this rapid turnover in technology? How can the negative impacts be minimized?